PS4 Parents Play With Play Dough

Parents, Pre-K Teachers; Ms. Vdokakes, Ms. Beltran and Ms. Almanzar (Para), pose for a photo after the workshop.

Do you know how to make play dough from scratch? Pre-K teachers Ms. Vdokakes and Ms. Beltran do and now so do a group of PS4 parents!  During a recent Parent Engagement session, Ms. Vdokakes, Ms. Beltran and Ms. Almanzar (Paraprofessional) facilitated making play dough from scratch! The parents then used the play dough to make letters and counters for Math Games.  This activity supports letter recognition and spelling and is an activity used by teachers in Pre-K.

Parents learn how to make home-made play dough.

Making and using play dough is not a good learning tool, but it also supports a child's physical development. While poking, rolling, and squishing play dough, children develop the small muscles in their fingers and hands. They also gain strength and improve dexterity in their hands and fingers, critical areas of physical development for writing, drawing, and other purposes. This workshop allowed for parents to have an understanding of one of many activities used by Pre-K teachers that support their child's development. Parents also walked away with a recipe for home-made play dough.  Click here for a play dough recipe from PBS Parents!

A parent molds hand made play dough into numbers.

Ms. Beltran, Pre -K teacher, facitates a workshop on using play dough to help young scholars.

While the parents were learning, Mr. Lagares (Physical Education Instructor) and Ms. Hinton (Paraprofessional) watched the scholars and and provided them with educational activities to do.  Special thanks to parents that participated in the workshop and Ms. Levin for taking these amazing photos! To read about some fun ways to use play dough as a way to support learning, click here!